We didn’t lose our inner child. We turned it into ArT Toys and More...with purpose.
Why Was an Art Toy About Refugees in a Puppet Museum?
An ArT Toy About Refugees in a puppet museum: a 2018 magazine shows how a playful figure could address a painful human crisis — ArT Toy Gama Newsletter #255
ART TOY NEWSLETTERART TOY BOOKS, MAGAZINES & PUBLICATIONS
Sergio Pampliega Campo & Cristina A. del Chicca
An old magazine, a puppet museum, and an artwork about refugees remind us that the ArT Toy Movement was never just about collecting.
Some toys are made to make children smile.
Others are made to make adults uncomfortable.
And sometimes, the same character can do both.
We were again going through some old magazines and books in our Studio-Gallery library when we came across something that reminded us why we fell in love with this Movement in the first place.
And no, it wasn't a sold-out edition.
1. When the Past Interrupts the Present
September 2018.
An old issue of T Spain, the Spanish edition of The New York Times Style Magazine.
Inside, a two-page article by Ana Franco titled Otra manera de jugar — Another Way to Play.
It talked about ArT Toys, artists, collectors, and a different way of understanding these strange little figures.
Art Toy Gama was mentioned too.
Back then, we described ArT Toys as contemporary cultural creations that express the personal worlds of their artists.
Eight years later, we still stand by those words.
But rereading the article, something else caught our eye.
A piece that had very little interest in making anyone feel comfortable.
2. A Toy With Something Uncomfortable to Say
One of the artworks featured in the article was created by Cristina Alonso Del Chicca, co-founder of Art Toy Gama.
Its subject?
The refugee crisis.
Think about that.
A character using the familiar visual language of toys to confront something painfully real.
Childhood imagery.
Adult consequences.
A figure that might catch your attention because of its appearance, only to make you question what you're actually looking at.
There's something unsettling about that contrast.
And perhaps that's precisely the point.
ArT Toys give artists the freedom to approach difficult subjects through characters that don't immediately look threatening.
You might smile at first.
Then you look again.
And the smile becomes a question.
A character can look innocent without having anything innocent to say.
3. What Was an ArT Toy Doing in a Puppet Museum?
There's another part of this story worth remembering.
Cristina's artwork had also been included in an exhibition we curated, with the support of our collective, at the TOPIC Museum, Tolosa Puppets International Center, in the Basque Country, Spain.
The exhibition ran from October 21, 2017, to March 2018.
And it had a rather revealing title:
A Journey into the Universe of Art Toys: A Contemporary Consequence of the Puppets.
An ArT Toy exhibition in a puppet museum.
At first, it might sound like an unusual pairing.
But think about it.
For centuries, people have used puppets to tell stories, challenge authority, make audiences laugh, and express things that might be harder to say directly.
ArT Toys can work in a similar way.
One character needs strings to move.
Another stands perfectly still on your shelf.
Yet both can speak for the person who created them.
Sometimes more effectively than a long explanation ever could.
So perhaps the interesting question isn't whether an ArT Toy is really a toy.
It's what an artist can say once an idea has a face and a body.
4. The Movement Had a Voice Before It Had an Algorithm
The 2018 article also discussed artists including KAWS, Michael Lau, and Coté Escrivá, among others who helped expand what collectible figures could become.
Today, you might discover ArT Toys through a very different conversation.
Resale prices.
Limited editions.
Viral characters.
A release that sells out before you've even finished entering your card details.
We know that world exists.
We're part of the same industry.
And there's nothing inherently wrong with popularity or commercial success.
But here's what bothers us sometimes.
When everyone talks about how quickly a figure sold out,
who's still asking what the artist wanted to say?
Long before today's hype, artists were already using characters to explore humour, identity, criticism, discomfort, and rebellion.
Independent galleries, shops, publications, and collectors were helping those ideas travel.
The Movement didn't suddenly become culturally interesting when bigger audiences started paying attention.
It already had something to say.
The market can make a character famous.
It can't tell you why that character matters.
For that, you have to look a little closer.
5. Why We Still Keep the Magazines
This is why we keep old magazines, books, and exhibition catalogues in our Studio-Gallery.
Not to prove we were there.
And certainly not because we think everything was better in the past.
Some things weren't.
But these publications help us remember conversations that can easily disappear beneath the next big release.
They show us what artists were exploring, which ideas were gaining attention, and how the Movement was finding its place between shops, galleries, museums, and people's homes.
That old article from 2018 is a good reminder.
An ArT Toy can borrow the appearance of childhood and use it to ask very adult questions.
It can move from a shop to a museum.
From an artist's imagination into your collection.
And from something you simply enjoy looking at into something that makes you uncomfortable enough to think.
Artists create those possibilities.
Curators and museums help give them context.
Collectors keep pieces and their stories alive.
And sometimes an old magazine preserves a conversation that deserves another chance.
Eight years later, we're still looking at those pages.
Still thinking about that artwork.
And of course, not every ArT Toy has a hidden message.
Some are simply beautiful, strange, funny, or impossible to resist. They don't need to challenge society, carry a political statement, or explain the human condition to deserve a place on your shelf.
Sometimes an ArT Toy is worth loving simply because you love looking at it.
And that's perfectly fine.
But every now and then, a character has something more to say.
The interesting part is being curious enough to notice.
And still asking ourselves a question that feels surprisingly relevant today:
When you look beyond the character, what is the artist really asking you to see?
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Explore our BLOG for more stories about the artists, exhibitions, publications, and unexpected connections shaping the Art Toy Movement.
And visit our SHOP to discover Art Toys, Fine Art Prints, and Paintings with their own visual languages and stories.
Because sometimes the most interesting thing an artwork gives you isn't something beautiful to look at.
It's a question you weren't expecting to take home.
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